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An Unofficial
Railfans Guide to the Lancaster and Chester Railway
The Original 29 Miles
(updated 06/18/2002)
The original 29 mile L&C is an east to west line. It's important to be somewhat familiar with their operations to get a good day of railfanning in. However, things have been changing sometimes on a daily basis. Here are some things to keep in mind:
At the traffic light, take a right onto Springdale Road. In a moment, the tracks cross under the road. This is one of my favorite spots to take photographs. (Generally the shots look bettter coming back east.) Stay on the walkway part of the bridge and you'll be fine. Keep in mind that Springdale can get busy in the morning or afternoon. Stay aware of your surroundings as well as the cars, school buses and tractor-trailers coming and going. You may want to hold on with one hand when the train passes underneath. (Assurances of safety in no way leaves me responsible should you get flattened on the bridge.)
From Springdale Road, take the last left before crossing the bridge (and the tracks underneath.) This road is Williams Drive. From this road, you have a good view of the tracks as the train heads toward Memorial Park Road. You may want to keep this area of the line in mind. In the next few years, the connection to the Kershaw District may be here. Such a move would
1.) Perhaps the easier way to give directions to is to tell you to get back on Springdale heading down the hill to the light. The Kershaw District tracks cross the road here. Take a left (eventually crossing the KD again) until you get to the stop sign. You are now at Memorial Park Road. By now, you will have noticed the L&C tracks directly to your right. Old Landsford Canal Road is straight ahead and it's closure due to a one lane, very unstable bridge means that a nice view of the L&C (especially in the winter months) crossing a trestle is off limits. Instead take a right onto Memorial Park Road, then follow the instructions where they pick up a paragraph below...
2.) The second way to continue with following the line is to go straight on Williams Drive. There will be two 90 degree angles in the road, but if you take a right at each first road, you'll get to Memorial Park Road. To your left, you'll notice the crossing lights where the track crosses the road. Take a right onto Memorial Park Road, then follow the instructions where they pick up a below.
The Memorial Park Road crossing is not a bad spot to get shots. When the train would pass this spot at 8 a.m. every day, the sun was directly behind it, eliminating it as a decent shot. But as with the rest of original 29, trains running in either direction at any given time means that any photography spot must be reconsidered.
From this road, travel a half mile until you get to the stop sign that connects to Meeting Street, also known as Business 9. Take a left here. For the next few minutes, you will be directly between both L&C tracks. But I did say we were ignoring the KD. Now pay attention to your speed through here. The limit is 45 and the boys in blue will pull you over in a heartbeat if you're much faster than that.
A mile down this road -- or up, depending on your point of view -- is West Manor. It could be an interesting shot looking through the trees as the L&C approaches, even though the train will be in the shadows some of the way. It should be noted that West Manor is a residential neighborhood, though no houses are in the immediate area. As such, strange looks from passing cars and the occasional police patrol are not uncommon. But it is a public road. Just keep away from the posted 'No Trespassing' signs that are to either side of the road.
To follow the train from here, get back to Meeting Street and travel the mile to Highway 9. Naturally, you will take the exit toward Chester. Just before the #9 interchange will be two gas stations. Both generally have among the cheapest gas in Lancaster or Chester. Both have grills that are open until 2 or so in the afternoon, if you like greasy gas station food. After hopping on #9, there is an industry near here on the left, Bowers Fibers, that offers a good view of the line, especially coming from Chester. However, this probably is not considered public property and there is sometimes a closed fence at Hwy. 9. My advice would bo to only go to this spot when you know a train is coming. Time it so that you are not there more than a minute or two. Also, do not cross the tracks. That would be too much of an encroachment. Besides the best shot is from the Hwy. 9 side of the road anyway.
Mt. Nebo Church Road is next. It offers a good view of the line coming from Lancaster although I'm not sure photographs would look good from here. But watch for dump trucks and earth moving equipment. There has been work going on here for years. So far, it seems that the only thing being accomplished is that they're moving a lot of red clay around. The L&C does own this land, almost 700 acres of it on both sides of Bowers Fibers. Chances are, however, that it's not zoned for industry as it is very near to the aforementioned West Manor neighborhood. I could be wrong about this. At some points along this tour, I will offer some insight into whats going on presently, what may go on in the future and what has come and gone in the past. Keep in mind that I may not actually know what I'm talking about.
Turn around now as there is no other way out -- even though the map you may be holding may claim so -- and go back the way you came. Then take a left. Go the mile to the next ideal spot to see the train -- Grace Avenue, at the first light on #9. The spur to the Grace Water Treatment Plant is there and the L&C often couples cars there for up to an hour. They will switch Grace out either coming from Chester or going to Chester. A run-around move will be necessary if they pick up cars on the Chester trip. There is a parking lot nearby for the Grace Customer Service Center that I have parked in from time to time. As of yet, no one has ever asked me to leave the area. As far as morning shots of the train in Lancaster, the sun is usually not a major factor and the curvature of the track allows for decent shots.
A few miles down Highway 9 is Fort Lawn. Until the last few years, the L&C would serve the three Springs Mills plants there, often leaving cars on a side track in front of the Wheel-In restaurant. Springs no longer uses rail service for transferring product. However, there are still cars left on this side track, from cars in storage for the ADM plant in Kershaw, loaded coal cars for Grace to uncovered hoppers full of rock for ballast.
It was here that the L&C interchanged traffic with Seaboard Coast Line's (and before that when it was still Seaboard Airline) Catawba to Great Falls branch until that line was abandoned in the early 80s and the East Chester connection was built. With the widening of Highway 9 in progress, the state has piled dirt in over the roadbed -- which had grown over since they were abandoned -- that once ran below the bridge so if you're not familiar with the area, you will overlook it.
The Fort Lawn map is included here as much for nostalgia as anything. First, the cluster of tracks near the marker denoting Hwy. 9 is the location of the Springs warehouses in Fort Lawn. What once was an active and busy section of rail spur is no more. The only remains is a short stretch of track that is used as MoW storage. Hundreds of box cars could once be seen here in the 1960s and 70s.
The last bit of nostalgia is the old Seaboard Catawba to Great Falls branch that can be seen running virtually north to south in this image. This track was taken up in the early 80s as business in Great Falls went under. At some point, it was reasoned to make better business sense to just build the East Chester connection between the railroads.
As far as the SCL branch is concerned, most of the tracks were taken up. However, in Great Falls and closer to Catawba, there are still some roads that have the tracks over them. They were paved over in many cases but have begun to peak through again in a few spots. An interesting item to note is that CSX is still paying taxes on this roadbed. One might wonder why after 20 years, the land has not reverted back to the landowners since obviously rail will never be relaid.
Or will it?
There is a Duke Power station near Great Falls that may need rail transported coal if it were ever expanded. Since it seems unlikely that CSX would want to go the expense of relaying the rail from Catawba and since the state has filled in the road bed under the road anyway, that could lead one to speculate that the L&C could, eventually, be operating a branch that extends from Fort Lawn to Great Falls. While I do consider this in the "realm of possibility," it will probably never happen.
Now back in Fort Lawn, the L&C owns a large tract of land, more than 400 acres of land, on Hwy. 21 behind the three Springs warehouses. It would be interesting to see how they would connect to an industry if one ever located there. Two possibilities come to mind. One would be to come in from the east near the warehouses. Another is to build a connection utilizing the old SCL branch, then cut across Hwy. 21. But that's far in the future.
So let's come back to the present and stop speculating.
Now don't ask me why, but the Hwy. 9 widening project has been going on for almost three years now. There have been big orange buckets in the road in Fort Lawn for more than a year now. In fact, the Fort Lawn end of the prject was supposed to have been finished in August of 2001. They will be lucky to have it finished in August of this year and I'm not actually too hopeful for August, 2003.
The construction goes from Fort Lawn to the newly opened four lane stretch near Circle S. It starts again on the flip side of Richburg and goes almost all of the way into Chester. You will need to keep this in mind as you railfan the Original 29. Hopefully by 2010, it will be complete.
Three miles down Highway 9 from Fort Lawn, you will see a grain elevator rising above the trees. This is Circle S Feed Mill, which opened in 1998 and receives grain trains generally every ten days to two weeks. Trains are usually split up now though sometimes if one comes on the weekend, they will take it down as one behind five or six units. EMD SW1200 #97 used to work there alone. She has now been replaced by LLPX SW1001 #91. Circle S is easily visible from a public road, Morrison Road. This is a great place for shots. It is located at MM17.
With the ADM plant in Kershaw now under L&C service, a shuffle train of soybean feed is run between the two feed mills as needed. Look for the ADM marked cars on the Circle S sidings. Additionally, there is an interesting story behind the land where Circle S now sits. If you have a few minutes, surf on over to
For more information: Record of Decision (ROD) Abstract -- Fort Lawn, SC
You may want to keep an eye out for a couple of irritating run and bark dogs near where Morrison dead ends. I don't think they'd bite, but would probably jump up and down your legs. These mutts aren't always out and about, but sometimes they are. Also look out for kids on go carts. This road is not heavily traveled, so they may not be expecting you.
Circle S has in the past suggested they may explained their plant, possibly as much as doubling the annual carloadings. They have plenty of land to work with as they own all of it from their current location to Hwy. 9 with Morrison Rd. acting as the border. Furthermore, the L&C runs through a 200 acre tract of land that they own just after crossing Morrison Road.
The Allvac Plant on up Hwy. 9 does not use the L&C, although the track passes on their property. This is generally a better shot as the train heads back toward Lancaster. Notice the guards office just on the other side of the tracks. I've taken a few shots here. What I do is turn in off Hwy. 9, hop out of the car and wait for the train. Since the shots are normally better when the train is east bound, it's not hard to plan a shot after the crew leaves the Distribution Park.
The next trainspotting location is, in fact, at the L&C Railway Distribution Park. There is a road that leads in to the Park, but this is not necessarily considered a public access area. You may want to keep this in mind if you are in the area, but it is a good place to watch or photograph the L&C, even if the spur to the busiest plant in the park, Guardian Glass, is barely visible. Also keep a lookout for 18 wheelers. Keep in mind that they need more space to turn.
Both trains have been meeting in Richburg over the past few months. 17 will bring their train down from Chester where it will swap with 14. Sometimes the crews simply swap engines. More often than not, the crew will keep the engines they came to Richburg in. Also, many times, both trains will work Guardian. 14 will pick up the empties while 17 leaves the loads. At least once, there has been a meet of three trains in Richburg recently.
Haddon House is right beside Guardian, but the company does not use the railroad anymore. However, the L&C uses this spur as extra storage space. As of late November 2000, they were storing close to twenty L&C 50 footers on this spur. Half of these were later sold to the Gulf & Ohio-owned Lexington & Ohio Railroad and delivered by Norfolk Southern. Since then, the other 50 footers have gone back into service. Many times, this spur sees empties from Circle S waiting to be delivered to Norfolk Southern.
It's interesting to watch the L&C working the Porter-Warner spur. If they work that spur when you're there, you will want to make sure you're on the park side of the tracks, not the highway side. But do keep in mind that these guys are running a train here, not an amusement park attraction. Don't cross in front of the train anymore than you have to and be more careful than the average school bus driver. Train crews don't want to worry about us idiot railfans and we shouldn't want them to.
Stepping off of my soap box and back on Highway 9, turn left onto the old Richburg Road right past the first of two Thyssen Steel plants. The second Thyssen Steel, both the newest and the largest of the two, offers the best photo ops if you happen to catch the train there. Do be careful as you near all crossings, however, as they sometimes let the cars roll into the plant without being coupled to an engine. Past the steel plants at the first stop sign on that road, turn to the right onto Main Street in Richburg. The Railway has recently added sidings here and keeps cars at this location for the distribution park as well as Circle S from and even ADM from time to time.
(Also, there is an old Edgemoor and Maneta 0-4-0 steam engine on display here near the tracks and a playground. If you're not looking for it, I imagine it would be easy to look right through it even though it is sitting in an open area.)
A note: It can get crowded in Richburg with both trains in town at the same time. If you get stuck by a train crossing Main Street or Broad Street on the west side, don't worry if you feel you're missing something. Simply turn around on Main, double back to Hwy. 9, then take a left back to the distribution park.
In this area, the railroad owns several pieces of land. A 275 acre piece of land extends from behind Haddon House all the way back around to the back of the new Thyssen Krupp plant. Rail access could be made a number of different ways depending on how many spurs were needed. Chances are that this land would be divided up between a number of companies. The new Thyssen plant is the largest plant in terms of size and the amount of land it's own, and it doesn't compare in size to 275 acres.
Another interesting piece of land is across the four lanes of Hwy. 9 beside Lewisville High School. I wonder if it is possible that a large industry would be allowed to build beside an high school in such close proximity. Further, a crossing at this point would be troublesome, though not impossible. The biggest piece of land the L&C has to offer is the Supersite off Hwy. 9 near the I-77 interchange. At almost 1200 acres, this is a large chunk of land that the L&C owns. The states seems to want this piece of land developed, thus the Supersite designation. In fact, at least two companies have looked at it recently including Nissan. A drawback to developing here are the local NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) who have opposed anything they hear that would like to develop here.
It may be wise to take a break here and run to the area in Richburg near Interstate 77. If you don't need a break, skip the next two paragraphs. From the downtown area in Richburg, find your way back to Hwy. 9 and head west. In two miles you will find a few hotels, gas stations and fast food places to eat such as Subway, Burger King, KFC and McDonalds. There are also a few locally owned eating places that you may prefer. If you can wait on gas and are going toward either Lancaster or Chester, get gas there as it is almost always less expensive though not as cheap as gas in Rock Hill. (The Supersite piece of land is after the Richburg area on the other side of the Crenco gas station.)
To get back to the L&C area, you can go one of two ways. It will be easier to just lead you back to downtown Richburg where you just came from. The tour will start back there.
In Richburg, get back onto Main Street and go back to Old Richburg Road, or Highway 56, which you have just turned off. Go straight on this road and you will pass under Interstate 77. (The L&C crosses under 77, too, of course, but the shot isn't worth getting a ticket for being stopped on an interstate.) Keep going straight and you will cross the line in a few miles. This is another popular area for the cars with the big blue lights to sit. You may find them under the 77 bridge in the shade or hiding on the first road (not on-ramp) on the left. The speed limit through here is 45. Don't speed.
Beside, keep in mind the terrain you are now driving on. The L&C has to tackle these hills too. They do it terrifically though, more so considering they aren't operating high horsepower engines, just end cab switchers.
Another few miles later, you will be at the East Chester wye that crosses #9 to the CSX interchange and to PPG Enterprises. To the left will be the GAF Plant as well as a side track that is almost full of box cars, among them new 60 footers bought by the L&C within the last four years. Oops. In the last few months, GAF stopped shipping by rail. L&C and SLGG boxes are still in storage here though. Since this company is not shipping by rail presently, the number of actual box cars in use on the L&C drops dramatically. In later years, GAF used CSX almost exclusively. Prior to that, it seemed to be a combination of both Class 1s. It was interesting to see the train come down from Chester with a string of Southern or RailBox cars in tow.
Going toward Hwy. 9 after the stop sign is the access track into the new park. Currently two industries reside there -- Specialty Polymers and Union Carbide. SP seems to be getting more cars than the L&C originally though they would handle. Four and five chemical tanks are routinely on their spur at any time. Union Carbide was said to have planned to be as many as nine spurs in. At this time, they are two spurs, but they keep the L&C busy with them. There is also a tract of land between Union Carbide and SP that is for sale by the L&C. At 28 acres, it could easily accommodate an expansion by Union Carbide or an entirely different company altogether.
Now there are a few additional angles that could play out over the next few years at this location. Already mentioned is the land that PPG owns adjacent to its existing plant. Another tract of land exists for sale directly beside it. Rail access to this land would be interesting. The road will soon be four lanes here. Would they be allowed to put another crossing in over the road? Or could it be planned so that access is made from the track on the other side of the road?
Another tract of land is available east of Union Carbide on the same side of Hwy. 9. Rail access would seem to be somewhat easier to do. Just extend the end of the track as it is now with a turn to the right and in front of Union Carbide. You might could also go between UC and SP. This land is 100 acres and might would go faster than the land across #9.
But let's get back to the present. Across #9 is the CSX interchange. There used to be a public road that lead right past this interchange and often the two lines would rendezvous there. Unfortunately, this road has been closed and such sights are no longer attainable. This area is now PPG property as well as L&C and CSX. I would not advise you to go back to the interchange even on foot. If there is a train back there, you can pull off of Beltline and wait. CSX locals will poke their nose across #9 as well. With PPG in the background, this could be an interesting shot.
Also of note is that the L&C
If you do a U-turn and follow Beltline around the curve, you will come to what I call the east end of the wye. There is a road here called Ecology Lane that you should take. It leads to a few of the industries at the wye, so be careful and don't hang around more than is needed. Be aware of the train movements and don't cause the crew unwanted concern by crossing over the tracks anymore than is absolutely needed. Also, be careful not to intrude onto Owens-Corning property. The railroad owns four separate tracts of land near here totaling some 400 acres of land.
Go back to Beltline and take a right to follow the main line. We're now heading away from the wye and toward downtown Chester. In a few minutes, the tracks will converge with the road at MM3. This is a fine photo spot if the sun is playing nice from either direction. Finding a safe spot to get off the road may be another matter. Another tenth of a mile from here, the L&C crosses this road at grade. This is a better shot if it's three units or less day as the trees will obscure much of the fourth unit if the angle isn't set up just right.
Keep following Beltline until you have a chance to turn left. This is Belt Road and will soon cross the L&C at grade at a sub par photo location. Be sure to stop though as the state recently put in stop signs from both directions. Belt will soon cut to the right at a 90% angle and will lead you directly behind a McDonalds. You are now at Wilson Street. Take a right, go through the stop light and you will soon cross the L&C at grade. This is a nice photo spot as the train is heading straight into the sun most days when it hits here. It will also likely be moving slow, preparing to stop and work the Omnivova spur. Omnivova is hard to spot though, so you may be wise to just pull off the road -- ample parking -- and wait until they lash up to their train again to head onto the interchange less than a mile away.
To get there, take the first left past the tracks, go around a 90% curve, look for Hinton Street and take a left. You are now near where the L&C's route mileage begins. You are also on the NS Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC main. Things can get congested in Chester with a Circle S train, a mini-unit train for Thyssen and now the ADM cars not to mention the regular freight going either way. With that said, things are also dead at times to. The sun is usually good for shots of the L&C after they run around the train and prepare to make up the consist for the return trip. One thing to keep in mind, if they are lugging any CSX cars from the wye, they are not stopping there again on the return trip. Also, the later it gets in the day, the more likely they're tying down somewhere and not heading back to Lancaster. I have seen them tie down in numerous locations including uptown Chester, the warehouse at Wilson Street, anywhere on the wye, either side of Richburg, Circle S, the Fort Lawn sidings and Grace.
This map shows the downtown Chester area. The L&C comes in from the eat across Wilson Street, then veers toward the north to connect with the Norfolk Southern below Hamilton Street, which does not cross either line. Hinton Street does. Cars will be left for each railroad anywhere from the area between Hamilton and Denton Streets -- though there is no easy way to see this -- all the way up to Hinton and across Business 9, also known as Lancaster Street.
In the north west corner of the map, we see the old Seaboard line, which will cross the old Southern at grade.
This shot shows a broader view of downtown Chester. Norfolk Southern comes up from the south. The main line veers toward the north east toward Rock Hill and then Charlotte. The old Carolina & Northwestern goes toward the northwest. In the old days, this line went along Hwy. 321 to York and then Gastonia. Now everything has been yanked up except for a five mile stretch or so from downtown Chester to the Chester Industrial Park.
Both of these lines cross the old Seaboard Atlanta to Hamlet at grade.
Lancaster
and Chester's Maiden Trip to Kershaw
Lancaster
and Chester: The Kershaw District
Lancaster
and Chester Railway System Map
Railfanning
the Lancaster and Chester
Additional resources:
Lancaster
and Chester Railway: Industrial Development Sites (Official L&C
Web Site)
Lancaster
and Chester Railway: Original 29 Self Guided Railfan Tour (Tony Hill)
Carolina
Rails
The
Lancaster and Chester Railway Home Page
The
Blue Blazes: A Brief History of the Lancaster and Chester
Outlook:
A Look Ahead for the Lancaster and Chester
Hinson's
Railroad Photography: Shortlines of the Carolinas
Hinson's
Railroad Photography: Class 1 Carriers
An
All-Time Diesel Roster
Other
Railroads in Lancaster and Chester
Carolina
Shortlines Guide
Bibliography
and Acknowledgment Page
Hinson's
Interchange Page
This web site is not endorsed or sanctioned by the Lancaster and Chester Railway.
